"I've always been competitive. As a young child in San Fernando Valley, CA, I practiced figure skating for hours every day and competed around the country. Skating was my life until I graduated from high school and started working full-time.

One of my first jobs was setting up lighting equipment at special events. During one project, I was on a scaffold tower fixing a spotlight when I fell six feet and hit the right side of my head on the cement floor. I was in a coma for 18 hours. When I started developing complications, including seizures, my doctors didn't think I would make it.

Post-Injury Challenges

 I survived, but my speech and memory were affected. I remembered my parents and sister, but my husband was a total stranger. He cared for me for a year, but the relationship changed dramatically and we divorced.

Now that I'm on the right anti-seizure medication, I haven't had any seizures in the last few years.

Moving Forward, Literally

Thanks to a program for people with learning disabilities that offered special help and tutoring, I became a full-time junior college student, majoring in journalism. I also started taking martial arts classes, kickboxing, and running short distances.

Eventually, I was strong enough to run in races and found out about triathlons. To learn to swim, I took a few lessons. Then I joined a club, where I ended up meeting my second husband, who swam in the next lane. I also bought a bike and started training. It took me three times as long as other racers to finish my first triathlon, but I was proud of myself anyway.

When uncontrolled seizures interfered with competing in triathlons, I got involved in horseback riding.

Dance Diva

Five years ago, I fell in love with ballroom dancing and discovered I had a natural talent for it, thanks to my early years of ice-skating. I sought out a partner, Riccardo Papi, a professional dancer from Italy who is number one in the world with his main partner, and started competing. Since I sometimes have trouble remembering steps and my balance can be off, Riccardo has educated himself about head injuries as well as seizures, in case I have one during a competition.

On the professional-amateur circuit we've competed in California, Nevada, and Hawaii. I won all the Latin dance individual competitions at the Hawaii Star Ball in October 2017.

I never thought that those long days at the ice-skating rink when I was a child would help me get back on my feet after a devastating injury, but I'm so grateful they did."

- As Told to Paul Wynn